Overview

Puerto Vallarta is one of the good resorts on the west coast of Mexico. There are some gorgeous places to visit around there, and the food is decent. It is easy to get to Puerto Vallarta: for example, direct flights are available from the San Francisco Bay Area.

In More Detail

First, be warned: if you are looking for a calm vacation, do not stay in the Puerto Vallarta downtown, and especially not at Hotel Molino de Agua. The downtown (an the area known as "Zona Romantica") is nice to visit, but somewhat dirty, and quite noisy. Hotel Molino de Agua in particular is located about 50 yards from a bar that closes around 4am, which means that you will not fall asleep before that time, because the walls will be shaking (if you don't trust us, check tripadvisor and don't ignore all the negative comments). If you are looking for tranquility, either pick the hotel zone further north, or go to a nearby secluded village like Yelapa.

We took a boat from the pier at Playa Los Muertos and after about a 45 minute trip we got off at Yelapa. We took a tour of the actual village before heading to our hotel. It was impressive to see that small as the village was, it did have a building dedicated to serve as a church. The tour took us slightly above the village, where we saw the waterfall that so many people write about on their web pages. The waterfall is not quite impressive, and the water is somewhat muddy---don't expect too much.

After touring Yelapa, we crossed to the other side of the beach where we were going to stay at Hotel Lagunita. We loved that place. Our cabin was only steps away from the beach, and the only sound we heard through the night was that of the breaking waves. The cabin itself was very basic, but otherwise clean. Overall, the perfect environment for relaxation. There was a yoga class going on in the mornings, as well as a sign-up sheet for massage. The only thing that we found somewhat lacking was high quality food---the seafood was decent, but everything else was unimpressive: the salad was somewhat tasteless and the tortilla soup was way too greasy. We would have liked to see more fresh-caught fish being offered; as it is, we were not sure whether the fish was locally caught, or brough from Puerto Vallarta. That said, it should be possible to arrange to go fishing during the day and have your catch cooked when you get back.

We have started to think that the best way to enjoy Mexico is to carefully choose quaint places that you can visit---places that have not been spoiled by the desire to attract tourists from the United States. Yelapa is such a place. Puerto Vallarta does not feel like such a place, at least on the surface: it attempts to look artsy, but the uniquitous references to "Night of the Iguana" and U.S. celebrities in general makes it look somewhat superficial. This, however, could be a reflection of the average tourist visiting there, and his or her interests. The place does feel like it has a soul of its own, waiting to be discovered by those who are patient.